For many years, industry has been concerned with designing improved heaters for articles of manufacture such as seats, mirrors or handles of furniture, automotive vehicles or other transportation vehicles. Examples of such heaters are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,084,217, 5,451,747, 5,045,673, 4,931,627 and 4,857,711 all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. However, the heaters disclosed in these patents suffer from drawbacks. For example, and without limitation, U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,217 employs a “polymeric thick film” and drawbacks with the implementation of such technology have shown that heaters employing such films have been relatively inflexible, resulting in the potential for noise resulting from body shifting upon a seating surface. Also, these heaters have traditionally offered only one heat output level when in use. In the interest of improving upon existing technology in this field, the present invention provides a heater that is particularly suitable for use in seats of automotive vehicles, but which may be adapted for application in other transportation vehicles or other articles of manufacture as well.